Excused
by SSA Javier Grey P.I
Summary: The crap Kurama has to go through to get out of school when we need our romantic soldier.


**Author's Ramble: And heller madla! Back with another Kurama fic! YEHEY! Kinda short I know but this as much as I have to say. Oh, and review!**

**Summary: An urgent emergency sends Yuusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei to Meiou Private Academy to collect Kurama. How Kurama gets out of class when the Spirit World and the Living World need him. And when his friends need his help kicking ass.**

**Disclaimer: Again, not mine. Don't believe me madlang tao, see my profile.  
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* * *

"_Yuusuke! School is this way!_"

Middle-aged couples selling fruits and vegetables, young men carrying large sacks or chopping up pork, chicken or beef, whatever's on the menu or light on the pocket, mothers holding chubby, little palms and fingers in their slender calloused hands, turned their head towards the scream.

_Well, _that's_ normal..._

Fond, loving smiles and soft chuckles played on everyone's lips as they turned back to the hustle-bustle momentum of an everyday market.

Fourteen-year old Yukimura Keiko has grown into a lovely, blossoming young lady. Soft curves and a slowly boistering chest, her doe-brown eyes and soft, mouse locks would drive any man mad and any girl envious. Not only pretty, she was an extremely bright child with an extremely kind heart. And she definitely needed it.

Fourteen-year old Urameshi Yuusuke was never one to be left behind the ranks. Though not exactly booksmart, the boy was streetwise. At a very young age, left to his own devices, the boy had turned out better than anyone had expected or hoped. A good many would call him another dime-a-dozen delinquent, a lost cause. Yet those who knew him as well as Keiko, or at least as well as the crowd in the market does, Yuusuke was anything but. Many times before, when punk-ass gangs would storm their little neighborhood market, Yuusuke had may times before come to their aid. Yet after the carnage, and a good lecturing from the pottymouth teen, he would shrug it all off with a nonchalant, indifferent tone. They knew him better than that, they knew Yuusuke cared. He was a good kid deep down. And they loved and respected him for that and much more.

Yet lately the boy had also seem to undergo a sort of change. Yuusuke was always a handsome lad, as Keiko was always a pretty girl. Well-built and muscular, he didn't have the looks of the tall, dark and handsome god every girl dreamnt about. Yet he did have the aura of one. Tinged green raven locks slicked back, he had a rugged, bad boy charm. Left on its own, he had the look of innocencel, the sort of pure, sweet face you would see on those shows about fallen angels sent to Earth to win back their wings or something. The spoils and rewards of puberty they guessed, though the change seemed internal as well.

Oh, how time flys.

Yet seeing the the lovely Keiko grabbing the studly Yuusuke by the scruff of his green collar made the melancholy at the speed of time sweeter. Some things will never change.

"_Keiko!_ First ya treat me like some little brat and now ye treating me like a damn dog!"

"For your 411, for you to _be _my dog, you have to _respond when I call you!_"

"Stupid _ningens_. Acting like complete fools in the middle of the street."

The cold, indifferent amusement in the insult made the squabbling teens start. Keiko and Yuusuke, paused in mid-slap and aftermath of said slap respectively, turned their heads with the same slow start as with the crowd two seconds after Keiko's berating started.

"Hiei, when did you get here?" Yuusuke smiled, frozen in mid-fall.

"_Hn_. Would you mind getting out of the ridiculous position. Not that I care much about the image of the Spirit World projected by you Detective, but I would loath to be seen associating with imbeciles." Hiei rolled his blood-red eyes, the icy smirk now an amused frown.

"Well hello to you to buddy." Yuusuke muttered, his words laced and dripping with sarcasm, but he did as he was told. Getting hit by Keiko was normal but now with Hiei arround, attention was the last thing they needed.

"Koenma sent this." Hiei threw a Manila folder along with a small attache case.

Yuusuke caught the items with ease. "A case?" Yuusuke's forehead crumpled in a clump of confusion before he bellowed with delight.

"What are you so happy about? You do know we have three tests in a row today right? Not to mention our Science project is due today." Keiko frowned, straightening up.

"Why do you think I'm celebrating?" Yuusuke grinned like a madman.

The grin didn't last long as Keiko's schoolbag came crashing down on his head.

"Hey Keiko! Hey Urameshi!" Kuwabara's cheery greetings once again stopped Keiko mid-swing, and saved Yuusuke from losing his first kiss to the concrete floor.

"What are you guys doing here? We're going to be late you know." Kuwabara smiled, leaning over the tumbled over Yuusuke.

"Oh, the Idiot is here. Now all we need is the Fox and we can get this over with." Hiei mumbled, his frown deeper and painted with a darker shade of amusement.

"Oh, it's you Shortstack! So where is Kurama?" Kuwabara straightened his stand, grin still in place.

"That is precisely what I would like to know." A slightly muffled voice ensued from the little case. They had almost forgotten about it.

The three taller teens gasped as they opened the package.

"_Koenma!_"

"Yes it is me. Now don't look all surprise. To normal humans, this case will only appear as a normal school bag. All they'll see is a bunch of paper, pens, notebooks... Standard high school things. But you aren't going to fool anyone if you guys are gawking at it like some portal to another dimension."

There, on a little screen in the upper compartment of the case, was the little prince of the Spirit World himself.

"Well Pacifier Breath I wouldn't want anyone to _think_ this dorky thing is mine anyway." Yuusuke walked to the side as he spoke, sitting down beside a vending machine in front of a bankrupt convenience store.

"Our regular schoolbags are dorky enough. This sort of... thing," Yuusuke paused to hold one of the bag's several staircase compartments. "Would better suit one of those prep nerds at Kurama's school."

"Well I'm glad you mentioned that. Maybe you'll blend in a little better, because you're all going."

"_What?!_" Startled screams came from all four teenagers. Yuusuke hadn't even noticed they were there. Meiou Private Academy was a delinquent's nightmare.

"Well, I always wanted to see Meiou High. They say it's the most prestigious school in town. It was ranked ten in the _"National Young Proffesionals' Decathlon Exam" _last year." Keiko recovered from her surprise, smiling excitedly.

"I'm sorry Keiko, but this is _Reikai Tantei _business. I cannot allow you to come along." Koenma smiled apologetically.

Keiko frowned, raised her hand to object yet she saw the time instead. In a mad dash, she kissed Yuusuke on th cheek and whispered a hurried: "Take care."

"Sorry Koenma but you gotta be out of your mind. Maybe that Ogre of yours has been dipping your pacifier in poison or maybe you got one too many spankings, but I ain't cut out for schools like that." Yuusuke rubbed his neck nervously.

Kuwabara was still frozen.

Hiei had his sword drawn towards the screen.

Keiko was rambling statistics about the damn school as she left.

It was a _real_ good thing they weren't in the middle of the road anymore.

"Why are you all so uptight about this?" Koenma asked, genuine confusion marring his baby face.

"Okay Koenma, I'll give you three good reasons." Yuusuke began, counting off fingers as he went.

"One. Meiou is the smartest school, as previously stated by Miss Slap Happy there, school this side of Japan. Kurama's a smart guy but me and Kuwabara, I'd admit not so much."

"Two. Our middle school and that high school don't run in the same circles. Catch my drift, or whatever that saying was. So if you don't get school poilitics then I'm sure you get nature and junk. When an ant doesn't smell right, the second it's in the anthill, it's dead."

"And three. The second our school finds out we've been to the Brainy Bunch School of Nerds, not only will our stupid, dumbass teachers think we've been causing trouble, the whole student body's going to think we've been flirting with the enemy."

"And a fourth reason, just to satisfy Your Brattiness, the uniform is _pink_. _Pink_, Koenma. I already got a beaked little munchkin. That doesn't bode well for guys with reputations to protect."

"And what's your reason Hiei?" Koenma looked to the _jaganshi_.

"_Hn._ I'll admit I like the Fox well enough. Those snooty classmates of his however, I do not." Hiei slid his sword back into its sheath.

"Look I'm not asking you three to marry someone from there but I do need you three to pick Kurama up! This case needs all of you. The very balance of the three worlds is at stake here!" Koenma pushed himself up against the paper-strewn desk.

"Pick Kurama up? But it's only 7:50. School doesn't start for another ten minutes!" Kuwabara exclaimed after looking at his battered watch. "Why can't we pick Kurama up at home?"

"That's because Kurama's already at school. Meiou Private Academy's bells ring for class at 6:00 am and dismiss at 4:00."

"_Six in the morning_! What kind of friggin' school are they running over there? Some to-death military camp? My ass isn't even outta of bed at that time!"

"Meiou High's break is at 9:00 am, still an hour. We don't have much time. I'll explain your mission later after you meet up with Kurama." The screen went black before Yuusuke could give Koenma a solid berating for pushing him, Hiei and Kuwabara off Social Suicide Cliff.

"Well this is just peachy..." Yusuke slumped against the dusty cardboard covered pane.

* * *

Meiou Private Academy sure lived up to name.

Lush bushes festooned the sides, filigreed with tiny pink and white flowers. The buildings were large and pristinely white, like it was given a fresh coat of milky paint everyday. In the corners of their eyes, a large chicken wire hatch was filled with bunnies and birds. In the other corner, an average-sized butterfly garden. And behind the school was a sizeable greenhouse. Students in red, pink and gold carried textbooks and charts, some had glowing highlighters in their mouths as they fervently marked pages and opened notebooks. Some were in shirts and jogging pants, heading to various sports clubs while some were in taekwondo uniforms in front of the impromptu botanical garden. All students somehow found a way to weave between students and bottles and pots with letters pasted on without bumping into each other.

"Deplorable..." Hiei muttered.

"W-Wow..." Kuwabara stuttered.

"Damn..." Yuusuke cursed.

They found Kurama in the butterfly garden, labcoat donned and chart in hand.

"Wingspan is approximately two inches. Normal by any standard. Yet the specimen is still young, only came out a week ago. A two-inch wingspan is attained at adulthood. Maybe the diet? Must study more." Kurama lifted one slender finger to the underside of the little blue butterfly. "Come now friend, come now." He whispered softly, gently putting his hand inside a mesh cage marked A. He shook his hand just as gently as he put it in and the little butterfly fluttered off, leaving a shiny trail of dust on Kurama's labcoat.

"December 14th. Specimen B." Kurama stenciled the note on his clipboard, pausing to open the cage marked B.

They knew they were on a time limit and all, but there was something about how Kurama worked that stopped them in place. There was something so serene about Kurama at this moment in time that they feared to disrupt.

It wasn't like they _liked_ watching Kurama, okay they did, but not in a creepy-stalking-you sort of way. It was more of an amazed-and-stupefied curiosity. It was just_ rare_ to see Kurama so unguarded. The four of them, though Hiei would die before he admitted it, were friends, even _brothers_. And to share a special moment with people you love and care about was just as rare as Kurama's expressions right now. Was it wrong to enjoy a moment of peace with a brother?

"Wingspan has not changed since last record. Specimen B seems a bit... feeble." Kurama whispered the last word as he held another deep blue butterfly, yet this time he held it upon the palm of his hand instead of the tip of his finger. There was an uncharacteristic sadness in his tone. They knew their Kurama was sympathetic and all, but the tiny little guy in Kurama's hand made even Yuusuke and Kuwabara's hearts clenched.

"Minamino, ten minutes left it's time to finish-" Yu Kaitou, labcoat cladded and buttoned as well, stopped midsentence.

"Yes Kaitou I know give me five-" Kurama turned, the ever so slight widening of his beautiful emerald green eyes was the only betrayal of his surprise. "-minutes."

"I expected you to turn around the second we came in Fox. I just thought you were trying to mislead us by pretending you didn't notice." Hiei recovered at once, insulting Kurama as two best friends might hug when they see each other.

"I'm sorry to dissapoint Hiei, I've been too focused on my work. And it's nice to see you too. So how long have you three been standing there?" Kurama grinned, addressing Hiei then the group.

"Since that monologue thingy you did with the first butterfly." Kuwabara answered.

"So, uhhh, what's wrong with that one?" Kuwabara continued.

Kurama frowned. "I am not sure about that myself. Poor little thing."

Kurama placed the little butterfly gently in the cage before turning once again to meet his friends.

"Urameshi, are you guys wrapped up in another case?" Kaitou asked worriedly. Minamino Shuichi was still his academic rival but, in many ways, he had grown to be a friend.

"Yeah Kaitou and Koenma says it's not pretty." Yuusuke replied.

"Would you mind telling me what case has so much importance you would all come here and commit social suicide?" Kurama smiled as he washed his golden dusted hands.

"Yeah what gives? I expected to be mauled the second we stepped in." Kuwabara looked towards Kaitou then Kurama.

"Exams are coming up and students are preparing." Kurama wiped his soft, slender palms against a handkerchief.

"Yes and most of the sports clubs are out at Away games, leaving only the rookies behind." Kaitou continued.

"So basically those who usually deal with outsiders are gone and those who_ are _here are too busy to care." Kurama summarized.

"So then let's go before the invisible nerd whistle blows and everyone on campus rips Kuwabara's head off." Yuusuke was half out the door.

"Yes but I can't." Kurama smiled a melancholy smile.

"What? Why?" Kuwabara huffed.

"Minamino here can't get past the gate and guards without a permission slip." Kaitou explained once more.

"_What?! A friggin' permission slip?!_" Yuusuke trudged inside the sizable butterfly garden and seized Kurama by the collar of his labcoat. Since Kurama was still taller than Yuusuke, the raven-haired teen couldn't lift him off the ground.

"You're the fuck who survived ice shards to the throat and glowing demon grenades for Spirit World's sake! You are the only guy who can put Shortstack here in place with one look and can grow a poisonous plant in your bloodstream! Now the same redhead prick's telling me he can't get through a bunch of wimpy, pretentious guards to save the world _again_!" Yuusuke ranted, shaking Kurama's collar vigorously.

"'Pretentious' is quite a word to use Yuusuke, I didn't expect to hear it from you." Kurama could just chuckle nervously.

_'Ice shards to the throat? Poisonous plants in his bloodstream? Interesting Minamino...' _Kaitou watched the scene with interest, eager to ask his redhead friend what Yuusuke meant.

"It is the rules Yuusuke and as long as I am a student here I have to abide them."

"Then let's get you a permission slip then!" Yuusuke smiled, trodding out the door.

"Yeah let's go!" Kuwabara fist pumped the air, following after Yuusuke. Hiei followed too, snorting at the boys' idiocy.

"Minamino, they do know _why_ you can't get a permission slip today of all days right? Not only is Hanazono-sensei in charge of the dismissing department, without most of their guys to keep them away from trouble you're-" Kaitou whispered, worry once again replacing the eagerness for a good story.

"Of course they don't. Koenma, why today?" Kurama looked to the sky, silently cursing the Spirit World prince, making threats and deadly promises unbeknownst by his calm facade.

'Minamino?"

"I'll live Kaitou. Don't worry. Please tell _Sensei _then." Kurama stuffed his citrusy hands into the pockets of his immaculate labcoat. Walking out, he gave Kaitou a lazy wave, hoping to _Kami-sama_ he would make good on his word to Kaitou.

* * *

"So where do you gotta go to get your slip Kurama?" Kuwabara questioned, rolling his carrot head over and around, studying the halls and rooms.

"Please be a bit more mindful Kuwabara, I'm known as Shuichi here." Kurama scolded lightly, emerald green eyes scanning the halls much like Kuwabara's yet not in the way a tourist would, but a condemned man searching for a way out, looking out for guards scarier than any demon in Hell. Or even Keiko.

Yikes.

"One floor up and the last door down the hall on the right is where we need to go." Kurama breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted the stairs, all without incident.

That was until he saw a whisp of raven hair coming up the stairs.

"Minamino-kun?" A sultry voice echoed through the stairway. Kurama groaned.

Igarashi Asami tsunami walked up the steps. Long, slender, porcelain white thighs immediately greeted the four boys.

Yuusuke dog-whistled low and slow. Kuwabara looked up, determined not to sin against his sweet little Yukina by avoiding to look at temptation. Hiei's crimson eyes widened slightly, then turned towards Kurama, questioning, worried and amused. Kurama face palmed.

Not today.

Igarashi Asami, fifteen, was quite... developed at her age. Keiko was lovely in an innocent way, like a rare beautiful flower in slow bloom. Asami was curved and boisterous, with a tender bosom and a firm derriere. She had the figure of a bottle of Coke and was just as tall and slim. Blue eyes usually signified innocence and purity, yet hers were more like ice cold flames, still darkly beautiful yet dangerously so.

Hers was a modernized beauty, the sort brought about by nothing more than hormones and lust. If Keiko was a rose in slow, steady bloom, Asami was a rose _fully _bloomed, petals creased and missing yet still holding a seductive scent. At least for those who dedicate more time to ogling than thinking.

"Where are you going Minamino-kun?" Asami twisted and twirled her blond locks between her fingers as if the play would entice him towards her.

As if.

"Nowhere important that would concern you Igarashi-san. _Sumimasen_." Kurama ducked around her when her soft hands captured his wrist.

"Who are your friends Minamino-kun? The uniforms aren't that of Meiou, and besides they don't seem the type."

"What did you say lady? We may not look like much but that doesn't mean you can say crap to our faces!" Kuwabara bellowed, uninterested in Asami's lusty cheap beauty.

"They don't seem like the sort of people _you_ would hang out with, Minamino-kun." Asami twirled her hair again. It was getting on Kurama's nerves.

"Hiro-chan is at an Away game for our football team, mayhaps you can come by our locker room later. Maybe now. I know how much you want to ditch these fools. And you know how bored we can be without our boys. So _bored_." Asami emphasized her last word by tightening her hold on Kurama's wrist, drawing circles with her thumb. It was a soothing remedy his mother used to calm him down when he had nightmares as a child, plagued by dreams of his former life, yet her touch seemed to mock Kurama's tender memories, angering him more.

"If you and your friends are, how you say _bored_, _perhaps_ you could go to the library and study for the next exams. As I recall the cheerleaders might be disbanded due to poor grades and the only way you've all managed to stay together until now is because of the _favors_ you and the others perform for some of the teachers."

Asami's previously soft palm was now damp with nervous sweat, not resembling a fluffy pillow anymore but a melted marshmallow dropped on the pavement, sticky, moist and unappealing. Kurama withdrew his hand and continued, his usually warm green eyes just as cold and dangerous as Asami's. Maybe even more.

"And before you ask, yes I do know and it's despicable. So instead of waiting for your next lay why don't you actually do something for once? Or why not drop out of school altogether. I'm sure your parents will be heartbroken, what do they call you? Ah yes, their Princess. Since elementary. They'll be heartbroken but they will be more so when they find out that their girl has been promiscuous with teachers nonetheless. So now Asami, what pot are you to call the kettle black, when you are darker?" Kurama would not even look at the girl, she wasn't worth it.

Hurried footsteps and sobs echoed down the steps.

"Woah Kurama, again if I ever piss you off I'm really sorry." Yuusuke placed a hand on Kurama's shoulder as they walked up the stairs.

"Wow, that was _intense_." Kuwabara stated awkwardly.

"I do apologize. You weren't supposed to be involved in that little display, but as Yuusuke putted, she pissed me off."

"So all that stuff you said..." Yuusuke began.

"True. All of it. I've already reported the teachers and the other girls to the proper authorities. In all truth I do feel a bit sorry for her. But she didn't do what she had done out of true necessity and even if she did, I feel obliged to tell someone." Kurama answered with a light smile.

"So you get offers like that from girls like her everyday?" Yuusuke teased.

"I really rather not talk about that Yuusuke..." Kurama waved a hand dismissively, red lipstick still smeared onto the back of his hand. It only fueled Yuusuke's fire.

"You know she was hot. A quickie in the girl's locker room doesn't sound so bad. We could've given you some time, right Hiei?" Yuusuke nudged the raven-spiked fire apparition in the side as Kuwabara barely contained his laughter. Hiei was about to mouth the Detective off. That was until a delicious red shade painted Kurama's cheeks.

_Interesting... All right Detective I'll play..._

To anyone who knows the basics of the _Reikai Tantei _dynamic, it was rarer than the blue moon turning red that Kurama would ever show such a display of emotion. So the guys, being guys and friends and brothers, were going to milk it for what it was worth.

"Yeah Kurama, and maybe next time you could let us tag along. It'd be nice to see how you interact with the female population." Hiei smiled ruefully. The red on Kurama's face darkened. This was _so_ worth it.

"Well count me out. I'm staying faithful to my lady!" Kuwabara raised his gingerhead defiantly.

"Maybe _that's _why Kurama's shy! You gotta a pretty lady friend you've been keeping from us Kurama?" Chortles and teases of the same avenue reverberated up and down the staircases and halls.

"Yuusuke?"

"Yeah Kurama?" Yuusuke smiled at the sight of Kurama's blushing face, man it was great teasing the smart aleck.

"You are pissing me off." Kurama stated simply before climbing the stairs ahead of the group.

Yuusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei froze. The cool of Kurama's gaze was undiminished by the comical tinge of crimson teasing his cheeks. It was the same dark gaze they had seen countless times before, the same cool look before the opponent's demise.

A cool breeze tickled Hiei's foot.

All three looked down to see an arrangement of small potted plants lined up against the wall, like soldiers in waiting.

The boys ran.

* * *

"So this is the office?" Yuusuke looked up only to see a room number.

"Yes it is." Kurama smiled.

"Finally we can get out of this place." Kuwabara shuddered at the rows of potted plants down the hall.

Kurama knocked on the door.

"What is it?! Whoever you are you should be in class or-" A young woman screamed through the door but the second she opened the door, she stopped mid-rant.

Today was quite a day for stopping in the middle of stuff.

"Shuichi-kun! Come in. come in my child! Sit down, not there, on my chair, it's much more comfortable!" The young woman beamed at Kurama, ushering him in, completely ignoring the other three boys.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty? You look so thin, come I'll-"

"That really is not necessary Hanazono-sensei." Kurama cutted in.

"Oh? _Souka._ Well what can I do for you today Shuichi-kun?" Hanazono Nelita sat in her cushioned chair behind a mahogany desk. A teacher, also young and blond like Asami. But hers was a lighter tint, almost bleached. And her eyes were not blue but black and deep. Yet the depth was not due to experience or wisdom but the illusion of color, the depth of her eyes was cold and empty.

Kurama truly believed this teacher had a sort of fixation on him. A dark obsession. She reminded him too much of Karasu.

Sometimes Kurama wished he could change schools.

But going to the most elite academy around on scholarship made his mother proud. And that made him happy. He couldn't break her heart anymore than he already has.

"I would like an excuse slip _Sensei_. It's urgent that I leave immediately." Kurama spoke curtly.

"And who? With those delinquents?" Hanazono-sensei smiled coldly as she pointed towards the door.

"Shuichi, dear, I do not particularly like you spending time with such _miscreants_." Hanazono-sensei stood up from her cushioned chair and sat upon the edge of her table, in front of Kurama.

"Boys like you should be spending time reading and writing and with beautiful_ women_."

Kurama took a step back. "I think I'll go back to class now."

"Oh, dear! Silly me! I had your slip all along, here you are sweetie." Hanazono-sensei stuffed a pink paper into Kurama's hand. "But we will still discuss this at a later date. Maybe I'll call your mother and the two of us could have a chat?"

"_Arigatou Sensei._" Kurama bowed slightly and bailed out of there, shutting the door behind him.

"Kurama?"

"Yes Kuwabara?"

"I hate this school."

Kurama smiled. "Well shall we go then?"

"After all that trouble _finally_!" Yuusuke rushed down the stairs adjacent to the office. Kuwabara followed.

"Fox?"

"Yes Hiei?"

"I hate this school too."

"It's not as bad as you think without the nuts."

"Like perfectly ruined sweet snow."

"Right."

* * *

Koenma came back to his office battered and beaten. Thorns from Kurama's Rose Whip dug into every each of his little body. Third-degree burns were scattered over him from Yuusuke's Spirit Gun and Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame Mini Version and he was nearly amputated and decapitated with Kuwabara's Spirit Sword.

Was it Koenma's fault the George just happened to get sick on the day his sugar-coated, strawberry sweet buns were to be delivered and no one was there to pick them up?

* * *

**Author's Ramble: And done! Pretty long and messed up but I just wanted to know how Kurama gets out of school so easy when we need him. And hey, who doesn't want to bash the skulls of a couple of psycho fangirls talking to our Kurama like some whore on the corner of the street? Review please and sorry if it's kind of overcomplicated. By the way, the ending with Kurama and Hiei was under the assumption that Hiei likes ice cream but not ice cream **_**with**_** nuts, thereby a sort of metaphor for Kurama's school, which was all well and good without the, well **_**nuts.**_


End file.
